Registered: Oct 2002
Location: Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Posts: 1713

Had a "wonderful" conversation with some dude who was bitching that Curling Night In America wasn't live and is tape delayed. Made some comment about why it can't be like Canadian TV.

My eyes rolled big time as someone compared apples to oranges.

Tried to explain the realities of network TV, how it's not NBC's job to necessarily promote the sport (that's our job at local clubs and the USCA...but they have many hats to wear and a small staff) and that if you're a niche sport, you don't call the shots (especially when others write the checks).

NBC has it's objectives, we have ours, and sometimes they intersect. And BTW, NBC owns the TV rights.

Nope, this guy just kept complaining saying it was NBC's best interest to promote the sport and that he hated the one month tape delay.. NBC is underwriting CNiA and now you're telling them to spend even more to go live? Boy that sure helps in the negotiation.

Hey, curling maybe the darling the Olympics but it's not THAT big.

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Registered: Sep 2011
Location:
Posts: 1064

Disagree...

Live coverage isn't that expensive or hard to do, and for crying out loud, NBC devotes *hundreds* of hours of live coverage from the Tour de Steroids every year on their sports network...they should be able to throw us a bone. Even if it isn't live, they should be able to show tape delay within a week nonedited coverage. We'd bring the ratings.

The issue is that we're up against College Football or Basketball (depending on the time of the year), which flood the airwaves (seriously, have you ever seen the number of basketball games on TV on a January Saturday?). That's the competition.

I have higher hopes for "The Olympic Channel", so far they are unrealized, but I'm giving them a winter to prove something.

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Registered: Sep 2002
Location: London, Ontario
Posts: 4002

The competition (College sports) also pays for their coverage. Find a some money company or personal (Everest) to support the curling and it will be shown live.

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Registered: Sep 2011
Location:
Posts: 1064

Not so much, at least in the US.

The conferences that play football all have rights deals that pay them for their games. They range from the mammoth Big-5 schools ($50M/school plus) down to the Horizon League (which gets about $300K/school)...but they are all getting paid for the rights.

Admittedly, that's driven by Football and Basketball, but I'm not aware of any D-1 US Collegiate conferences that don't play D-1 Basketball (there are some that do not play football)

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Registered: Oct 2002
Location: Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Posts: 1713

Alan,


Can we get real here for a second.

CNiA was exclusively underwritten by NBC (USOC has the TV rights while NBC has first right of refusal). This is THEIR tournament. The USCA should consider themselves fortunate to even have it.

Secondly, this event was meant for the general public (330 million) as opposed to the USCA membership (20,000). Therefore, to be frank about it, the general public does not care if it's tape delayed. Most of the general public doesn’t even know this tournament exists. When available I think a respectable audience will watch if there’s good social media and all around advertising among the USCA rank and file. CNiA, by how it's been treated by NBC in the past, is tape delayed material.

If you want to complain about something, take a gander at their broadcast times. Most of them are not exactly prime time friendly. This is why I prefer live-steaming in lieu of network programming on TV/Cable which is probably the wave of the future in the next 10 years. Based upon past observations, we’ll likely see future CNiAs ending up on a specialized YouTube channel (world curling TV?).

1: You tape delay the NFL/MLB/NHL/NBA finals….riots near and far

2: You tape delay the Brier…Dumpster fires in Edmonton

3: You tape delay the STOH….CBC customer relations gets nasty calls from little old ladies from Saskatchewan.

4: You tape delay the Worlds….Sponsors get miffed.

5: You tape delay Curling Night in America….meh

Why does 1-4 get nasty reactions if they’re tape delayed but not 5? Tradition, gravitas, sports culture, economics and expectations.

No one really expects CNiA to be live but that can change in the future thanks to the internet (needs the ever persistent nudge of time). Right now, it isn't that kind of property. It’s at best warm up material for the Olympics or diversification of their winter line up (what we call “filler”).

Curling is what it is in the pecking order.

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Last edited by AK267 on 08-28-17 at 08:29PM

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